Page 3

Reddington

The caterers were doing an excellent job.

The music was good. Every one of my fifty guests were mixing and mingling nicely.

I really couldn’t complain. Especially since the reason why I’d agreed to host this dinner party when my adviser had suggested it just walked in a few minutes ago and seemed to be comfortable already, nursing a drink from the bartender.

Mark Cavallo. Thirty-six years old. Brooklyn born and raised. Tech genius. And, most importantly, a self-made billionaire, who had recently retired and was looking to make a few key investments.

At his side was Sherrilyn Cavallo. Former beauty queen.

The pair seemed in good spirits, walking over to me.

“Red, excellent party,” Mark noted. “It all starts with the top shelf,” he joked and tossed his head back, finishing whatever poison filled his glass.

Sherrilyn smiled, keeping a firm grasp on her drink. “Thank you for having us.” It was immediately apparent she was his better half in every way, being smooth to his blunt.

I nodded and waved a server over to keep Mark fully hydrated. “It’s my pleasure.”

“Red, we should talk business, but I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy myself a little too much tonight,” he said, taking another hearty swig of his second drink.

“Where’s your wife? I’d love to meet her,” Sherrilyn said, as demure as you’d imagine the wife of a billionaire would be.

Where in the world did that question come from, though?

Left field, that was where. I looked around and swallowed hard.

A wife? That was one of the few things I didn’t have in my life.

My expression never changed, though, making sure she couldn’t see how her question made me do a double take.

“I’m not married.” And this better not be relevant to my talks with Mark.

Clacking his tongue on the roof of his mouth, he intoned, “Red, I thought you were a smart man. Smart men never stay single long. Family is the most important accomplishment a man can have.”

This time I was the one busy gulping my drink. Anything to avoid addressing his archaic view. Not everyone wanted a family. And even if they did, not everyone was fortunate to have one. We all couldn’t find ourselves our own Sherrilyn—someone to balance us out.

He swirled the liquid in his glass, cocking his head as he looked like there was more he had to say. “And I only do business with smart men.”

That last part was obviously added as a warning, and it stabbed me like the dagger it was intended to be.

I took another hearty gulp of my drink, which didn’t contain nearly enough alcohol.

My chance of getting Mark to invest was quickly slipping through my fingers—I could feel it.

I just couldn’t believe how I never knew his pre-req—being married—before. A doozy of a pre-req, if you asked me.

Before I could answer, though, Sherrilyn’s fingers danced on Mark’s arm as she laughed lightly and looked around. “Honey, I’m sure Red is at least engaged. He’s quite the catch. He couldn’t be single. Am I right? You have a fiancée who will be joining us, correct?” Again, she peered around.

I hated to be the one to spoil things for her, but she could look around a hundred times over again, and she still wouldn’t find a woman here I was romantically involved with.

What was with these two?

Was a man worthless without a woman? It almost felt like I should have been standing here having this conversation with a vagina and two breasts, not a penis.

Was this what women put up with—being told they were worthless without a man?

I’d never experienced this before, least of all in business.

If I didn’t need Mark’s money quite so badly to take Lyons Enterprises to the next level, I’d tell him and his wife to fuck the hell off.

That wasn’t the case, though, so now what?

Just then, my eyes caught sight of Jade slipping up the stairs with my dry cleaning slung over her arm wearing the world’s shortest pair of ripped jean shorts and a crop top. Did the woman ever know how to dress?

If we weren’t at a party like this, I wouldn’t be complaining.

I mean, I was a warm-blooded man, and my cock practically wanted to salute her shorts since they were cupping her ass perfectly.

And don’t even get me started on that top.

I had a feeling she didn’t own a bra. If she did, then I’d never seen it.

My heart beat at a pace that was more rapid than usual.

Without giving any real thought to the idea that came to my mind, I opened my mouth, and foot, meet mouth, because I’m about to stick it in it .

“Of course, my fiancée will be joining us. She texted me earlier that she was running late at”—I paused and thought hard.

Where would one come home from dressed like that?

—“the community garden where she volunteers. In fact, it looks like she just got home.” My eyes were firmly fixed on Jade’s cute little ass that appeared to be peeking out of her shorts at this angle.

Two more sets of eyes followed my gaze and fell on Jade while Sherrilyn asked, “Community garden?”

Fuck. “She’s quite the philanthropist, my little Jade.”

“Jade,” Mark said, as if testing it out on his tongue, and glanced up. “Well, we can’t wait to meet her. The woman says a lot about the man. Right, honey?”

Sherrilyn smiled and nodded. “Right, honey.”

Well, I was beyond glad they didn’t seem to have any trouble agreeing on matters. First, the fact that I needed to be in a relationship and now this. Boy, was I lucky.

From the corner of my eye, I watched Jade walk down the stairs, empty-handed.

She had obviously dropped off my dry cleaning and was on her way.

Her tongue darted out as she licked her lips and held her head high.

Fuck, I loved how confident she was. She looked out of place (but in an adorable way only she could pull off), yet she didn’t seem to care.

That was so hot—she was practically holding her middle finger up at every person at this party by not caring whether she looked like she fit in or not.

I could hear my blood pumping in my ears.

“Aren’t you going to call her over here and introduce us?” Sherrilyn asked, interrupting me from my thoughts.

Uhh. Yeah. Sure. It was a good thing she couldn’t read my thoughts. They were currently focused on undressing Jade, so I could worship every part of her body until she was so satiated and spent she couldn’t imagine coming again. But she would. I’d make sure of it.

Sherrilyn tilted her head and eyed Jade, as though she was trying to send her a telepathic message to stop by. Too bad that would make her a party to this train wreck.

Farce.

Lie of all lies.

Told you, I would stick my foot in it.

And I had.

Big.

Damn.

Time.

I grinned, nodding. “Of course, I am.” I wasn’t planning on it. I didn’t need Jade blowing this whole thing to smithereens. I could just see it now— we’re not engaged . Those three words would be the final nail in my coffin with Mark.

But I had little choice in the matter. Or so it seemed.

Raising my hand to get her attention, I called her name and waved for her to come over and join us. Did you hear that? It was a car swerving off the road on a bridge and falling straight into the water. Plop! Down the car goes, completely sunken. The car was symbolic of my lie, by the way.

New task: make sure Jade went along with it and she didn’t give me away.

Jade’s head snapped toward us, her eyes connecting with mine and her lips narrowing, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. She was confused. Well, she was about to become ten times more confused. Anyone have a quick fix for a migraine because I felt a doozy coming on?

When she got to us, I placed my arm around her waist, and her body went rigid. She looked over her shoulder at me and cleared her throat. “Hi,” she greeted us, obviously unsure where to go from there.

I smiled. “Hi, honey.” The term of endearment fell from my lips like it was second nature. Effortless, really. And I had to admit, I didn’t hate it. In fact, I think I liked it a little too much. It fit Jade, and it was a nickname for her I suddenly felt belonged to me.

Her eyes went wide, and I tightened my grip on her, tugging her closer so I could casually kiss her cheek and whisper so low in her ear that only she could hear. “Play along.” Backing up, I cleared my throat. “Mark, Sherrilyn,” I said in turn. “I’d like for you to meet my fiancée, Jade Logan.”

Then I turned to Jade, noticing how her face fell slightly.

They wouldn’t notice because it was subtle, but take it from a person who had memorized every line of Jade’s face and could trace them in his mind’s eye—she was in shock.

“Jade, this is Mark and Sherrilyn Cavallo.” Jade wasn’t stupid.

She had to have remembered the name Cavallo and what it meant for me and the company.

Sherrilyn nodded, speaking up first. “It’s very nice to meet you. Red was just telling us how you volunteer at a community garden.”

Jade smiled, tilting her head in my direction. Meanwhile, Mark’s brows furrowed, his eyes dropping as they examined Jade’s hand. Shit! “Wait. Where’s your ring, Jade?”

Son of a bitch. I couldn’t be caught in a lie. It would ruin me. No, I wasn’t exaggerating. It was the truth. Would you want to do business with a man who lied about something like his relationship status?

My palms grew sweaty, and my gut clenched. Quick, come up with something, anything at all, Red.

“It’s being resized,” I blurted out. “My girl just has the most delicate, tiny fingers,” I said, playing with her unnaturally soft hand. How had I never known this? Never brushed hands with her before?

As Mark asked how we’d met, I chuckled. Maybe this would work after all. Damn it, I was smarter than I gave myself credit for.

“That’s a funny story, actually,” I started to go into it, adhering to as many facts as possible.

* * *

Jade